Author James Dashner creates a sub-language all its own for teens trapped in the Glade, and it’s totally convincing, easy to follow, and a very cool adjunct to the description of a very strange life. Readers share Thomas’s sense of confusion right from the start, and are pulled straight into his thoughts and fears. As the Greenbean (newest member) learns his way around, the Glade becomes scarily real, but change is coming. And change is always scarier than following the status quo.

The Maze Runner offers a taste of isolation, rebellion, change and mystery, with dangerous threats, monsters all the more scary for being so scarcely described, and the battle for control, of self, others, or destiny, rising to the fore. The story’s complete by the end of the book, but more is most urgently promised and it’s hard not to insist on picking up the next book straight away.

I don’t know what the movie will be like, but I can imagine they’ll do a good job. The Maze Runner is the sort of book that creates just enough to imagine it all without boring readers in the telling; highly recommended.

Disclosure: I kept reading bits of it in stores, so I asked for it for Christmas and I’m glad I did. ( )

Good Read, extremely emotional and overall enjoyable. I look forward to seeing more from the characters and see friendships develop. Newt is my favourite character from the book and I cannot wait to delve deeper into his story and maybe learn a bit of his background in future books. Scorch Trials, here I come! ( )

A lot of people gave this book 2 stars here. I gave it 5 starts because I couldn't put this book down. I really liked it. I thought maybe I wasn't going to read the rest of the series, but now I want to because I want to know what happen to these kids. It's a Third person POV but it is descriptive that you still feel the character as if it was a 1st person POV. ( )

The book was alright. I think if I'd been a loooooot younger, like maybe 10, I would have liked it a lot better. as it happens I'm not 10 and so I didn't get to enjoy it the same way.

The characters were bland, Thomas spent an awful lot of time saying how Smart he thought he was (but doing nothing smart); one thing the characters had in their favor though was that they actually acted perfectly the role of teenagers: they were all just as annoying and infuriating.I can't say I cared for many of them. Literally. Characters died and I did not give a damn. Newt and Minho were okayish. Alby was an idiot.

The idea of the maze was interesting, but that it was "unsolvable" and the only way out was so... dumb, that no one thought to compare the sections was unbelievable, and it made it really bad. I'm not sure why they're building up to, but right now I fail to see how having the kids through any of that will solve anything. Interesting concept, doubtful way to get results.

The Maze Runner has a great hook, and fans of dystopian literature, particularly older fans of Jeanne DuPrau's The City of Ember (Random, 2003), will likely enjoy this title and ask for the inevitable sequel.

The first book in the New York Times bestselling Maze Runner series—The Maze Runner is a modern classic, perfect for fans of The Hunger Games and Divergent.

When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his first name. His memory is blank. But he’s not alone. When the lift’s doors open, Thomas finds himself surrounded by kids who welcome him to the Glade—a large, open expanse surrounded by stone walls.

Just like Thomas, the Gladers don’t know why or how they got to the Glade. All they know is that every morning the stone doors to the maze that surrounds them have opened. Every night they’ve closed tight. And every thirty days a new boy has been delivered in the lift.

Thomas was expected. But the next day, a girl is sent up—the first girl to ever arrive in the Glade. And more surprising yet is the message she delivers.

Thomas might be more important than he could ever guess. If only he could unlock the dark secrets buried within his mind.